City Council - Regular Meeting

I am calling to order the uh city council ch meeting for Sonoma um this Wednesday, November 19th, 2025. And um just want to let people know ahead of time that we will during our public comment period uh we allow 10 people for public comment and two minutes each. But if we have I think we may have interpreters here tonight. So, we will uh double that time for anybody that needs interpretation. Um and then, um so at this point, I would also like to ask everybody to turn off their phones. I just turned mine off or your watches if they're particularly noisy. And ask everybody to stand as they are able for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Oh, good. All right. So, and I'm gonna ask our Miss Bar, our city clerk, to take the roll call. Council member Lou here. Council member Gurnie here. Vice Mayor Willander here. Council member Dean here. Mayor Ferrar Rivas here. Thank you. All right. And as there is no closed session this night this evening. So I don't have a report on the closed session. And I will at this point ask uh for approval of the agenda or if the council member has anything of the agenda they would like to pull or uh have particular comments on. I'd like to move the agenda. Second. Okay. And all those in favor? I

I.

All right. So, now we are at the moment for public comment. And I will ask people to come to the podium if you have a public comment for items that are not on tonight's agenda. And we only have one public hearing tonight. So, items not on the agenda. Hello. Good evening, council and staff. I'm Bonnie Joy Klan, president, Moon Valley HOA. At the November 5th study session for the mobile home parks closure and conversion ordinance update, the Tri Park Committee focused on five specific issues for your consideration. Tonight, I would like to focus on the importance of the working families of Moon Valley, many of whom are Spanish-sp speakaking. Since the 1960s, the mention of manufactured housing communities in the city of Soma evoked the image of retired folk and 55 plus parks. Moon Valley was at that time a community of homeowners who were over 55, still working, retired, or uniquely living in homes that had been in their family for several generations. In 2009, the owners for purposes of enhanced profitability in the wake of the 2008 economic downturn changed the use of Danza Moon Valley Park from 55 plus to all age. Several very challenging years of transition took place. We still have seniors 55 to near 100 years old who wish to age in place. Today there are also working families who own their own homes raising future generations of Sonomomen and are part of this our special community Moon Valley. I would like to introduce you to this evening two of our community members. Their remarks will be in Spanish and then

followed by English. At this moment I'd like to introduce Mashina Edith Cortez, my neighbor Edith Cortez. Thank you. Gracias, Bonnie Joy. forchech. Pacificos. Moon Valley.

on behalf of in her presentation English. Good afternoon, members of the Sonoma City Council. My name is Adit. I am here speaking with you on behalf of my family and many other members of our Spanish-sp speakaking community in Moon Valley Park. We attended the study session on the update of the closing conversion ordinance and we believe that it is important that our voice is also heard. In the Moon Valley Park, we have found a home, a house with a lot of effort, work, and sacrifices that we've been able to buy. As you already know, housing prices in the city of Soma and much of Sonoma County are very high. Housing options for a Hispanic community are very scarce. The city of Sonoma is very warm, peaceful, and safe for our community, which makes it the perfect place to raise our children. Therefore, my children, our dog, my husband and I feel very happy to have found a manufactured house here where we have lived for more than six years without worrying about this opportunity ceasing to exist. Our children and our puppy grew up in Soma in Moon Valley Park. This community welcomed us with open arms. Now, our elderly Anglo neighbors have become our family. We've created a very large multicultural family where we have learned and respected our mutual cultures and our hope is that this will continue on. Although the park owners say there are no plans to close convert, we are asking that the opportunity to continue living in Moon Valley Park never be taken out of our hands and that the city of Sonoma adopt all the provisions recommended in the homeowners proposal which combined with the city's contributions provide us with the best possible protection. Thank you. And now I'd like to present Motra

Vina and my other neighbor Karen. Thank you. Valley High School. forgo. Good afternoon. My name is Karen Guadalupe Mendes Placencia and I am

honored to be here as a representative of my family who are here now and were here at the study session. For over a decade, I have been privileged in calling Moon Valley my home. I am a product of Cinema Valley being born and raised here attending Flowery Adel Cinema Valley High School and now the SRJC. I've also worked at Fairmont Sonoma for over six years where I've shared the love of my town with visitors of all around. This is my home. This is my safe place. For years, I've been able to grow within this community and build meaningful relationships with my neighbors, many of whom are also my colleagues. I want my family, friends, and neighbors to be recognized as a strong, caring community. There are many challenges and insecurities in this country, and we do not need the fear that ordinances will not protect us. We are here to support the updating of the current ordinance to meet the legal requirements of AB2782. They are however minimal and we believe the updated ordinance should include the additional parts that cover the specific needs of cinema homeowners who are also significantly invested in the park financially as well as personally. Thank you for your time and consideration of our request.

Thank you Karen. Hello.

Good evening. My name is John Kyle. I'm a resident or a homeowner of PBLO Serena. I wanted to share a few thoughts about uh the mobile home ordinance that we're working on. Closure and conversion is such an antiseptic term. It's more accurate to think of it as bulldozing a neighborhood, leveling an entire community. I think we should rename it the Neighborhood Bulldozing Control Act. That might all help us all remember what we're really working on. The park owners state that they have no plans to close uh their parks and we should draw out the revision process. That's a meaningless pledge. It's real estate. Ownership changes with the signature and then all bets are off. Pedaluma waited to update their ordinances and two different private equity groups moved in. Let's take a look at their scorecard. Four arbitrations, three closure threats, one active application to close a park. Two lawsuits, a counter suit, and one federal appeal. A recall effort has been launched to remove a council member. and a campaign is started for a ballot initiative to repeal or revise their ordinance. Our ordinance revision is preemptive. We see what's happening elsewhere and we want to stop it before it happens here. Thank you.

Thank you.

Hello, Ken Stokes, resident of Brazil Street. um a little hesitant to speak uh but I want to express my sympathy with regard to the prior speakers with regard to the issue you have to deal with there a great empathy and I think that's an important one uh for the city to wrestle with appropriately. I also a bit hesitant to be here tonight before item number six which I think there's probably a number of enthusiastic supporters in the crowd for so I will be brief. Um I've been here go be a year actually be next month that myself and my neighbors from the uh Sebastian Wine area have been speaking and coming forth with recommendations and concerns with regard to the revised uh planning um the revis the update to the general plan that is still in process and probably will be for another year or so. Uh I simply wanted to say that our absence the last couple of months or our reduced numbers does not reflect a reduction in our concerns. uh we're simply waiting for something we can sink our teeth into and react more uh specifically on. Although we have given a number of of uh recommendations throughout the year. I only have one request tonight. First of all, I'd like to say thank you for your your time and your effort in two minutes. We don't always have a time to say that, but I appreciate the the effort of the of the public servants that I stand before tonight. And my only request is that you and everyone here have a happy Thanksgiving next week.

Oh, thank you very much. My name is Loretta Carr. I am here to express that I am strongly opposed to the proposed roundabout at Third Street West and Perkins Street intersection. The traffic committee of the city did not contact residents or businesses in that area for input ahead of their decision. I find that this shows no regard for citizens they are supposed to serve. I spoke to the three residents and one business at that intersection. None of them knew about the proposed roundabout and none of them want it. I have lived on that corner at 705 Third Street West for over 30 years and I'm very familiar with the traffic conditions there. patients, many elderly, park on the street to go to medical offices. The transit buses go up and down Third Street West multiple times a day. Large trucks from UPS, US Postal Service, FedEx, Amazon, Shreddit, Marketplace Shopping Center, as well as regular car and truck traffic pass. If a barrier is placed in the middle of the intersection, there will be traffic accidents and possible injury to people or property. Those large trucks are not going away, and they won't fit on the street with a cement circle in the middle of the intersection. Elderly drivers may not be able to navigate the street barrier. Many other elderly or disabled walk or ride on their electric wheelchairs on Third West and Perkins. This roundabout will create

a dangerous impediment to pedestrian, bicycle, and vehicular traffic. On the second page of the traffic committee's plan, it states that the third street west alterations are so that bicyclists can avoid the traffic on Broadway. This after the removal of one vehicle traffic lane in each direction for the nonexistent bicyclists have created daily backup on Broadway. Now, we're faced with this unnecessary restyling in a residential neighborhood. I am not opposed to a paint to painted bicycle lanes and/or appropriately place speed bumps on Third Street West, but the roundabout or traffic calming circle or street barrier.

Thank you. I have to ask you to to finish up. I'm almost finished. Okay. Or street barrier will not improve traffic. It will make it worse. Finally, I object to over 1,800,000 being spent on this project with $277,000 coming from the city when there are so many other needs. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Please stop the construction of this unsuitable and dangerous traffic barrier. Thank you.

Thank you. Do we have anybody else that would like to make a public comment on an item that is not on the agenda? All right, I'm going to wait till everybody that is standing up. Make sure they're not coming in this direction. All right, thank you very much. So, um, moving on. I'm going to move on to meeting dedications. Does anybody have a dedication this evening?

May I have the one? Mayor, I would like to dedicate today's city council meeting to a long time a resident. His name is Edward Denali. He has he was here and also for the many many years. He was a good resident and a caring neighbors, friends, and the community. Best wishes. Rest in peace. Thank you.

Thank you very much. All right. We got a lot of action happening tonight. This is fun. All right. So, now I would uh like council members reports and comments. Do we have reports from council? I will uh start with uh Councilwoman Sandra Lowe. I just I just have a quick report and that is that um I was asked uh to speak at the uh Kure um assisted living facility um the other week and I meant I bring it up because uh apparently it was a big hit and they want some of you guys to show up too. So uh let me know. But it was just really nice. I sat with the residents for about 45 minutes and they had a lot of questions about just like who's on the city council. I told them all about who you guys were and you know the areas you represented, your backgrounds and um anyway, it was it was a lovely time and and um you know the folks there were very uh happy to have someone from the council come speak to them. So, um, anyway, I'm putting it out there, so text me and I will connect you, um, to them over there. And by the way, they offered me a stipend to come speak, which of course I refused, but I asked them to please donate it to Fish, and they are going to. So, uh, think about it as a donation to Fish.

Thank you. You would be I know that you're very funny when you speak. It'd be hard to follow up that, but we would do our best if we're asked. Yes, [snorts] Council Member Gertie. Did they reserve an apartment for you? Just checking. I mean, you can you can pay for it.

Uh, okay. Um, I attended the library advisory um board meeting on the 13th, last Thursday. And really one of the things I wanted to share publicly um was the fact that the library board, this is an advisory board that um is indirectly related to the library commission at the county level. We have a representative that represents us on the library commission. Um and so the advisory board um does a lot of the the work that uh would result in potentially items being carried forward on behalf of the Sonoma Valley to the commission. Um but they have some vacancies and they've got two member vacancies and so if you love the library like everyone says um you might be interested in sitting on this board. Um, and in addition to the two regular member positions, they have a position for a youth member. Um, and so those positions are vacant. And if you're interested, um, see Sabine, the branch manager. And, um, hopefully we can fill these positions with people who have an interest in in the library. It is a lovely um, lovely program and facility. So, thank you. Thank you and thank you for the explanation. Always helps for us to understand the role of these commissions.

Yes. Uh council member Ding.

Thank you, Mayor. Madam I would like to represent all on the Pharaoh city council and last Friday we participated on the local redwood empire on the food bank drive and fundraising event. I'm so proud being as son resident and I can see the people's passion and compassion and a lot of the food and donations in check and cash and some the business owners contributed a significant amount and food and some of them very high quality and quality cheese and tuna and cans that is really really a good foods for people in need for their lunch and for their dinner. Again, thank you so much. Thank you for your support. We witness this piece of the history and also we working together make another piece of the history. Thank you. Thank you, Council Member Wellender.

Um, thank you. I have, believe it or not, seven items, but I will talk very quickly on it. The first one was uh on Thursday the 6th of November, there was the art walk. Again, this is something that has come up where the first Thursday, a number of the artist studios throughout town are opening up their doors and having kind of informal receptions, but an opportunity to visit with the artist as well as to see their uh their products on the wall. Uh on Thursday uh the evening, the same evening, uh the mayor and I had the privilege of attending the youth of the year award at the Boys and Girls Club and it was well attended and very significant. And I'm proud to announce which you may have already read in the paper, but the winner was a young woman by the name of Andrea Ayala Hernandez. And the other thing that I was reminded of is that uh the Boys and Girls Club facility is pretty amazing and it came about again with the volunteer both in kind and financially from a lot of people throughout Sonoma and the Valley and I certainly was proud to sit and look around at the facility that we have provided for our youth in the community. Very very pleased with that. On Friday the 7th, I had the North Bay watershed meeting and they had a speaker that talked about the virtues and the cuteness of the river otter. I did not disagree, but I didn't get overwhelmed either, but uh they were saying that the river otter are indicators of water quality and ecosystem health. So, I think that's good. Saturday, uh, we had another incredible event that was experienced by 15 people and that was the cleanup or the workday at the mountain cemetery as well as the uh,

veteran cemetery. And here again, we have this incredible asset that uh, reflects uh, tremendous history. And uh I believe there's been some discussion about creating a friends of the cemetery group that will be able to participate more than just once or twice a year on a cleanup of raking leaves. And so I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing that become a reality in 26. Um then of course last Tuesday on Veterans Day there was a se a celebration or a a service at the vets building and there was a a a a Vietnam vet by the name of Jean Compano that spoke and I we shared the time or the time was shared with my fellow council people uh both the mayor and with John and Jack and it was a long but very moving talk about the impact of Vietnam War as well as the impact of the war in the days and years after. So it was a very reflective time. Uh on Wednesday the 12th, the Unity Kitchen, which now is being uh managed by Sonoma Family Meals up near Flowery School, they had a reception. And once again, they were kind of celebrating the transition from Unity Kitchen to now the Sonoma Family Meal, which is an organization that's also in Pedaluma. But again, very proud of that opportunity. And [sighs] I'm going to skip the seventh one. That's it. Okay, I as well will try to go quickly and thank you Ron and Jack for picking a taking a couple off my list. So, appreciate that. So, uh on November 6, I attended the Snow Mlean Power Board meeting and uh just I mean there's a lot that happened in the meeting, a lot of information. I'm not going to go over

all of that now. I'm going to just give you a few of the highlights. Just one of them is that there's uh they are entering into an $81 million project with uh Santa Rosa. Um so that oh wait that's wrong. Okay, let's do this right. So there there's going to be $81.5 million that's going to be def that they deferred from our 2425 budget to our and it's going to be moved to our rate stabilization fund. And so that allows when Snow McClean Power actually does better on their budget, they can defer that money to their rate stabilization fund and then that money is used to bring down rateayers costs. So that's very good news. Uh at a time in the future when revenues could be coming in at le uh less than they're expected and often that happens because of PG&E pricing. So um then uh they are entering into a capital projects um agreement with u Santa Rosa water and the goal of that is to increase renewable power production, reduce bio gas flaring, reduce energy costs for Santa Rosa water and to provide revenues to divert customer costs and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. And so that is they're doing a feasibility study and this is really based on the bio the Lagona wastewater treatment plan um system there. All right. So moving on, we're going to move away from Sonoma Clean Power. Now there's a lot going on there around legislation and work they're doing legally with PG& to provide better rates for rate payers. So you can look into that. Now next. Okay. The other ones uh I attended on 11:15 a gathering that was put on by wake up Sonoma but in attendance were um all of the organizations that are working on both were working on both immigration

and also work to get food for people in regards to at that point was the day after you know we had heard that SNAP program was going to go back into effect. but just was amazing as well as Redwood Empire Food Bank, the number of organizations that were there that have done work and to bring food to people throughout the our community. So, it was really great to see everybody there and to just be able to they're all working to also be prepared for other future emergencies. So, knowing that there other future emergencies could be coming down the pike. Um, and then we already Oh, I attended the 1775th um anniversary for Soma's Freemasons Lodge number 14, attended their gala and read a proclamation to recognize their 175 years here in Soma and their contributions to our community. Um then on the 17th I attended the Soma Valley Citizens Advisory Commission which is a commission between the city of Sonoma and the county of Sonoma to address land use issues that that affect both the city and the county. And one of the things I would say, there was a presentation by Unity PolicyHolders and Unity Policies Holders is an advocacy group that works with people that have both been affected by either flood or fire emergencies, but they also provide an enormous amount of information on how to be prepared. So, it's something I think is important for people to look into. They have a lot of really good information there and if you ever needed them, they seem to be great advocates for people. You may be aware of some of the work. They were born out of the 2017 fire. So, and then um yesterday, I think it was yesterday, a lot's happened this week. uh as I

attended uh along with our city manager David Guuan and also um our uh associate director planner our associate planner and oh I'm going to forget his name again Jacob what's Jacob's last name done okay and so we and it's all due to his work that we are part of a uh cohort of or of of counties and cities, 13 counties and cities in the Bay Area that are part of char charging smart in uh working together to bring more EV charging to the Bay Area. And by the way, the Bay Area is up to what was it 34% of meeting our goals to meet our goals for electrification by 2030 and we're ahead of anybody else in the state just just so you know that. So they're a cohort and then in that cohort there's a number of different organizations. I won't go into who's supporting it all right now, but u they there's each city is looking at different measures they can take to move forward electrification and then Soma was they have both a silver and a gold certificate and we received the silver certificate which is here and so part of that I think is because of our electrification of having electric bus and then putting the charging um site at our public work site. Um, and then I believe that that is it. So, we can move on to our city manager to see if he has any updates for us.

Thank you, mayor. Uh, just as for some for some numbers, last Friday at the food drive, uh, we collected 1300 pounds of food and $1,500 in donations. So, thank you to the community for showing up last Friday.

Um, another quick update, the minimum minimum wage number for January, uh, the increase has been announced. that went out today. Um it's we went back to 2 point it's a 2.5% increase uh based on CPI data back in August. Um as many know the data we usually use in October was not produced by the government this year. Uh so we stuck with a 2.5%. That brings uh for large businesses the minimum wage to $1847 and for small businesses $17.38. Uh a couple updates on events coming up. We have the lighting of the plaza this Saturday from 5 to 8:00 pm. Uh the city offices will be closed next Thursday and Friday for Thanksgiving. And then we have a lighted tractor parade coming up on November 29th from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. And then finally, a quick update on Spain Street. If you're driving Spain Street, uh that construction project will be uh over here shortly. Uh the paving was finished yesterday. They're raising the iron for the utility covers today and tomorrow. And then striping will happen in the next two weeks. So, you'll see some new striping out there soon. Thank you.

And now I will uh turn it over to our city attorney uh Mr. Rudman. No report this evening. Thank you.

All right. So, and I realize everybody's really probably here for the building codes, but we have one more thing to do before we do that. And that is that we are uh you know occasionally we take it upon ourselves to recognize people in our community that have contributed to our community in many ways whether it is through their business through their philanthropy. But I think I am really excited tonight because I can remember [snorts] in my early days when I lived in Soma here in the 70s and 80s uh one of my favorite wines to drink was a couturi wine and that was because it was an organic wine and even at that point I was into organic. So, it's really a great honor tonight that we are celebrating Phil Couturi Day and making November 19th, 2025 Phil Couturi Day and we are recognizing all your many contributions uh the industry, you know, you you helped start the the the you didn't start the wine industry here, but the the the but but the but in the you know, it was in the 70s really after I think you like the the French tasting and all of that that you know, Sonoma really became known as a great area to come and taste wine and have great wine made and you have contributed significantly to that and I can't go over your long list of contributions you've made phil philanthropically but it seems like you are touching almost every area of our community. So, what we're going to ask you to do is is uh if you would like to come up to the podium and say a few words and then we will present you with this lovely plaque. [applause]

Uh you know, thank you. What one of the best things is to be acknowledged by your peers and where you've grown up. Uh it's been, you know, it's [clears throat] been a lot of fun and I I hope to keep uh walking the the vineyards and uh and and uh helping this community grow. And [clears throat] I don't want it to go too much because it's getting harder and harder to to drive down the streets, but you know, uh we we we have we we are going to to progress, but it's a real honor to be uh acknowledged. Thank you. [applause]

[applause] [applause] [applause] Let's let's take a moment to see if my fellow council members would like to make any remarks.

Well, I'll just say that uh so um I mean what are the odds that a kid that grows up in Soma like mine would be interested in wine? But I told him to uh today what we were doing and he said does that mean like every November 19th it's Phil Couturi day you guys [laughter] it's not like Abraham Lincoln or something you know but anyway he thought he thought that was fantastic and um you know uh so you influence uh people you know lovely to see your family here and and you know have known many of them over the the course but but there there are, you know, everybody's kids you're influencing, including my own. And so, uh, I just wish you well. And I I think it's, you know, I'm wearing our 200 anniversary, uh, wine pin tonight because, um, you know, there's lots of things that could be said about the wine industry, ups and downs and whatever, but wine's been around a long time and it will survive. And it, you know, it takes wonderful people like yourself um to reinvent it every so often and to inspire people and and I just want to thank you for all those contributions.

Yes, Phil. Go ahead. I had a small commercial vineyard for 26 years and um did a lot of farming, but it was very interesting to watch your progress uh around the industry. Um, one of the things about the industry is everybody is just so willing to be helpful and and we had a couple of conversations and brief, but you were always willing to share your experience, knowledge and and ideas and and so I thank you for that and the industry is better off. So, thank you. Yes, council member Dan.

I heard and some good story about you. I admire you and you know people said you know the wine is point of your life. You're the truly a point for our son normal life. Thank you. Thank you again. I'll just simply thank you Phil for continuing to strengthen the reputation of Sonoma. We're rich in history. We're rich in wine. and you've played a very strong part in sustaining our reputation. So, thank you.

And I think 700 acres of organic wine vineyards is amazing. So, thank you very very much for that because that talks not just about wine that of course we all love to embellish or most of us I can't assume everybody does but but at the same time what that does for our ecosystem and our soil and how important that is to all of us. Thank you very much. [applause] [applause]

All right. So, we are going to move on to building codes and those that are here to celebrate, [laughter] can we interest you in some organic building codes? [laughter] No, we're actually going to the consent calendar, but I thought that that would move people out. [laughter]

I know. I thought everybody was here to see us.

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody. All right. So, uh moving on to item uh number seven, our consent calendar. So, all items on the consent calendar are considered to be routine and will be acted upon by a single motion. There will be no separate discussion of these items unless members of the council or staff request specific items to be removed for separate action. Does anybody want to pull an item from the consent calendar? All right, seeing none, um at this point I will open it up for public comment for anybody that would like to make a comment on items on the consent calendar. All right, seeing none, um, so I will ask for a motion to approve the consent calendar.

I move to approve uh today's consent calendar. Do I have a second? Second. All right. All those in favor? I I. All right. So, now we're going to be moving on to our public hearing. And I am going to open our public hearing and we will be receiving a presentation from our U director of um community development, Jennifer Gates. All right, it's me. The only item. Um so we'll keep it somewhat brief. Um you're a oneperson show tonight. No.

Oh, two. Oh, there we go. [laughter] I have backup. Um the uh building official wishes he could be here, but he had a shoulder surgery two weeks ago, so he can't drive. So, but otherwise, he would be here. I'm sure he's here in spirit, probably watching. So, I'm going to try to do this justice. So, good evening, Mayor and City Council. Jennifer Gates, community development director. The item before you tonight is an update to the city's building code. A new addition of the California Building Standards Code is available and adopted by the state every three years. It consists of 12 parts from administrative and residential provisions to existing buildings, energy, plumbing. So, it gives us all of our regulations. The staff report highlights some of the changes that were adopted by the state, including establishing a new wildland or urban interface code, which consolidates um existing requirements that were found in multiple code sections and put it into one um specific chapter so easier to find. Um it does update some accessibility requirements um for consistency with either um state or federal requirements, new electric ready provisions, increased EV charging infrastructure requirements for new developments and other clarifications and reformatting. So each jurisdiction in California must adopt the adopted co updated codes as published or with locally justified amendments. If not adopted locally, the state aversion will apply by default. Local amendments are allowed when addressing Soma specific conditions, but the state is going to set those minimum requirements and then provide when we can add things or not. In June, the state passed AB130 in response to the fires in Southern California. And this

prohibited jurisdictions from adopting any new, more restrictive standards for residential construction unless specific exceptions could be identified. And these were really specific to home hardening. Um, which home hardening is a specific reference to when wildfires occur. Um, therefore, staff is not proposing any new perversion provisions that affect residential construction. All the amendments for residential construction were previously provided in the code. So our previous amendments um we have just put them back in um in this code and made some reformatting and some other clarifications. Um so all the amendments are in the um that are located within the proposed ordinance are outlined in exhibit B and identify those that were not included in the prior code with the word new in all caps. So in the very far left side when you see the word new that is something that did not um exist in our prior code. So there's not that many um of those when you look through. The building official is recommending including a a requirement for earthquake actuated shut off valves that automatically shut off gas in the event of an earthquake for any new construction or additions to nonresidential buildings. So again, we can apply them to residential buildings. Um but this is something that the building official thought was important um to add in this round. provisions were also um provided in the fire code and the wildland urban interface code and these are mostly just clarifications and administrative as identified. So, exhibit B provides you what what the new um uh or the amendment from the existing code is and then kind of a description of what that is. And

then the far right columns um provide you with like the justification that has the number one. It was in the prior code. Um so that just kind of helps you um look across. There's also again requirements for justification for any amendments and um these were also contained in that exhibit. So tonight staff is introducing the proposed ordinance to you and recommending council discuss and ask any initial questions that you may have. The state required process for adopting and amending a building code is different than most ordinances that we see. While public comments can be taken, a public hearing must be held at the subsequent meeting at which time the ordinance would either be adopted or it could be amended and reintroduced. Um, so that meeting will be on December 3rd. So we have noticed it for that meeting. So this concludes staff's presentation. I and the fire marshal Trevor Smith are here to answer any of your questions.

Questions? Yeah, I was I was hoping that he would lead us off. Thank you. [clears throat] I think Vice Mayor will

um just for clarity because this will be this will lift quite a bit of fog out of my vision. So, in essence, what's happened is with the 2025 coming into play and where we are forced to adopt it, we have no choice. The amendments that you've done is basically you've taken out what was in the 2017 code in terms of of what our custom or our amendments were there and you just simply have now folded them up to include them now in the 2025 is that so yes it was the 2022 code 22 code okay

that we [clears throat] had adopted and so we have taken all of those and put them into this code and then anything that was new is listed out and in brackets. Um, as noted, there was one location in our plumbing code. Um, and then one location in the wild and urban interface, and that was just to identify that the city had adopted its own fire map. And then in the fire code itself, there were some administrative um, and some clarifications in there. And again, brackets with the word new are brand new, never been seen before.

And I just lost it. Um, regarding the new ads, um, in having the latitude of being able to, um, be influenced by Sonoma specific, what were the influences that wanted us to to add to it? I know that we had to make findings like climate or or whatnot, but uh were we just feeling uncomfortable that the uh California code was not sufficient or that we had some peculiar conditions that we needed to add more codes?

So, there are specific condition requirements um in general for the amendments. So in the finding section of the ordinance, you'll see that it talks to earthquakes um that specifically pertain to here um other climate such as drought um and flooding. And so you'll see some of the amendments are more specific to all right um what do we do with the flood plane? Um there are also the when you look at the code itself that's provided by the state there are sections in there where they say all right jurisdiction input your information here. So as an example in the code um in the ordinance itself you'll see a table and in the table it has um some numbers that were identified like what's our snowfall um and so so what's that snow load and things like that so those don't apply to us so you'll see na so we fill out that table as it's specific to us and that's considered an amendment because that's not what's provided if I go and look up the code book. Um so some of those are are like that. um or just identifying um one of the comments was the word city of Sonoma fire code. Um things like that. Those are could be amendments.

And to the pleasure of my fellow council members, my last question uh for now is I was reading through the exhibit B quite a bit and it oftentimes would reference approved previously approved by city council. So that suggests that there were amendments by previous councils that were approved and they just get carried forward forward forward unless someone raises an exception. Is that um

because I didn't write I guess I was my memory was challenged because there are a number of items that said approved by city council and I'm I'm maybe losing it but I just couldn't recall approving some of these things. So again, if you're talking about approved by city council in the sense that the finding um that was being identified in exhibit B on the far right was a number one. Is that what you mean? I I just saw the wording that said uh as approved previously by city council and whatever the topic was and it came up about 10 or 12 times and I was just curious if if if these were historical approvals that have just been carried forward.

That's my what I guess. Okay, that's it. So, um previous approvals of these amendments. Yes. All right. Other questions? Uh, Council Member Ding. Okay. Thank you. Oh, yes. Why don't we go ahead and do that first?

As an example, I think of what uh Vice Mayor is discussing. Um, it says this, okay, I'm sorry. I'm looking under the California building code adopt appendix one patio covers and it says this appendix chapter has been or has previously been adopted by the city council. This appendix chapter has previously been adopted by the city council. Says it twice. Yeah. Anyway, um it's on page one of 18 at the very bottom. Um, I think that is what the vice mayor was asking about.

Sorry, I'm looking. Page one of 18. Correct. Very bottom. Yes, senator. Sorry, I wrote it twice. Oh, I guess it was important. I I don't think that [laughter]

I know. Um, yes. So, the appendix chapter has previously been adopted by the city council. So um when we're talking about appendix um in this case the appendices that is me just making note that this was previously adopted these specific appendices. So those building the way the building code is is that it says that the jurisdiction has to adopt what appendices they will like to be using. So they offer a lot and then we space specifically. So we did not add any new appendices. These were all previously member Ding.

Yes. Uh my question is have you uh done any cost impact analysis and uh for this kind of changes for the developer for the architect and also time and frame you know it take a longer or do you have this kind of idea? So when a city if a if a jurisdiction does want to do what we call a reach code we do have to do that kind of analysis on that impact. So if we want to do a reach code in regards to um let's say we said we want to electrify the city no gas we actually would have to do that kind of analysis but for these types of amendments we do not need to do um that kind of analysis. Um, again, this would be something that they've all of our contractors have been doing locally for a while now. Um, in the sense of we haven't changed much now. As far as the state changes, um, I am not aware of a requirement on their end either. Um, but again, this is part of the reason why that the state did AB130 was to make sure kind of seems like they wanted to restrict jurisdictions from doing any reach codes uh in the near future. I would what was it? How many years is AB130?

2031 yeah two cycles. uh is it any exemption for our you know historic in the building or so we did adopt um so if you in the very beginning of the code it identifies all the codes all the different um it's called parts or chapters that we would be um adopting and one of them is the historic building code. Thank you. Other questions? How about you? Do they ever take anything out of the code or they just add to it?

Is that a real question? [laughter]

Um, so you actually answered a couple of my questions just in your presentation, so thank you for that. Um, I I guess my question to you is is somewhat anecdotal, but with the regulations as they grow and grow, you know, we talk about wanting more housing and and I have no idea what a developer or how they would respond to this kind of thing or these these new codes. Um, but I guess I'm just curious and do we distribute this agenda item to the construction industry to let them know there are changes taking place in the city and help them be aware of that to get their reaction.

Well, you do have a developer in the room because he had an item on consent. So maybe uh he'll participate in public comment. But um I um other than standard notification,

no all developers, contractors, they know this happens every three years. It's been this way for a long time. Um and it's when you the state's going to do what the state's going to do. They have their own process for adoption and things like that. Even if when we adopt ours, even though we're not really making too many, I would say edits, we still have to repeal the old, adopt a new, and still send it to the state. Um, and so we still have all the same processes. Um, I would say they all follow that all the time. And if they have a concern, it's usually around going beyond what the state is going to require. And they know that the state builds up every three years. So long time ago, I can remember when solar was just you just had to be solar ready on a single family home and now we're no you're installing and now you're going to do battery packs.

So Okay. [laughter]

Yeah. Well, I I get it. Thank you. So I have one question although I think that you did answer it but one of the things came up for me recently when I was in a meeting of a presentation around insurance for for fire and other emergencies. um was that and I was so I was very happy to see that all of this and reading all of this of course it's all reviewed ahead of time before we're looking at review reviewed by the fire department but that the codes it appears to me and I just want some assurance of that that the codes are aligned with kind kind of what are the best practices in regards to protecting homes in in in the case of fire and do so like I was thinking of like setbacks do setbacks are, you know, as we're talking about in other when we're looking at land use and all of that and, you know, and thinking of setbacks, are we making sure that we're doing it in a way that's going to also meet the requirements for protecting houses?

So, I will let or the best practices.

Yeah. So, I'll I'll um let our fire marshall talk to the fire aspect. Um I would say in the building code itself, um we usually and the zoning side are not going to have as restrictive and we're not going to have more, you know, anything that's less restrictive than the building code. That's going to set the standard. Um, we're not going to go beyond that. So, and if we do, there's usually provisions within the building code that would allow for it in certain circumstances or with certain materials and things like that. But I'll talk let Trevor get to that. I think your question was, if I understand it correctly, is it based on good science? These changes that are being made, um, I'll say from the fire code standpoint this year, we're changing six items. It's administrative things. Uh, we are making fire alarm contractors put a sticker on a panel when they serviced it. But other than that, it's mostly name changes and administrative changes pointing to documents that already exist. our policy manual, naming that, etc. Um, Council Member Gurnie, your question was, "Do we ever remove things?" I removed quite a bit of things. Uh, probably not the way you want it to be removed. I removed it because they added it. So, the code finally caught up to what the industry standard was. So, we removed a lot.

Um, and then we do make changes. Um, for example, mid trienal code cycle year and a half ago, we actually raised the threshold for fire sprinkler, our fire sprinkler ordinance, so that it we added more money to it because we felt like people were putting in sprinklers when they didn't need to. So, we try to make changes that are proactive for the building community and none of the changes we made this year are detrimental in any way or have a cost associated with them. Other than the cost of a sticker, there is a cost associated with that. Um, did I answer your question, Mayor? [clears throat]

Yeah, I think I'm I'm and I'm amazed because of how much there is. So in looking through all the codes so that you know as we're looking at what's the best practice we're sure that our codes are are actually uh using that best practice once it goes from the codes then to zoning right so that you know and I was particularly thinking about set especially since we're trying to add more houses to uh the same amount of acreage and how are we making sure that that when we're doing that that we're still having safe amount of setbacks to protect for, you know, fire from one one property to the next.

The code addresses setbacks, rgeline development, um, and a number of things in the very high fire hazard zone. Uh, it always has in the it's now in the WOOI code, but those regulations and rules were spread throughout other building standards. So, nothing much has changed other than the fact that [clears throat] within the city limits Excuse me, I have a cough. So, I'm trying not to cough. Sorry. Within the city limits in a very high fire hazard severity zone, some of those WOOI code regulations now apply. Woo. Yeah. So, yeah. Wildland urban interface. So, how you buildings, where you buildings,

and the materials you build them out of to ensure that they're safe, as well as some vegetation management planning um when they're being developed. Great. Thank you very much. I don't Oh, and I think that that may have instigated another question. Yes, Vice Mayor Willinger.

Couple um one is as I was going through uh exhibit B, there were times in which there was a change because we wanted to align ourselves with other jurisdictions within the county. And then there were a couple times in which we said no, we want to be on our own. I'm curious, you know, again, continuity thought process behind when do you align Is it just for simplicity and then you discover something very uh particular for Sonoma then requires you to again create our own

most of the times. So as in the fire code which is the part that I amend and adjust with the assistance of the building official and the other members of the city staff um we do our best countywide to keep all of that stuff very similar. The reason we do that is because if you're a contractor working in the space in Paluma or Santa Rosa or wherever that you don't have all these differing regulations and it's an arduous task for us to agree to what's important and what's not and our task or our our look at it over the last couple cycles is don't change it. Just leave it the model code the way the state adopted it and we haven't made any significant changes because of that. Now, [clears throat] there are sometimes that the city's code is different and it has to be because the way we do our sprinkler ordinance or the way we uh identify what building class is in the building code section. So, our amendments look different just because it's in a different chapter in a different place, but it's very similar.

Fair enough. Um um I don't have any more specific questions regarding this topic, but I do want at some point I am very concerned as I've met with you in your office and with the chief and I'm going to continue to meet as far as the implications of some of the new Calire uh requirements and influences on residential development and most importantly is the existing development. And so again, I would like to have the opportunity at some point in the near future to have a robust discussion if nothing else to be able to ask questions and get clarity and understanding as far as going forward because uh we will be on the front line along with you having to answer a lot of questions from a lot of our residents and our constituents. Why are we doing this? Doesn't make sense. It's and it's having a real negative impact. So

yeah and fire department be more than happy to engage in those conversations. Yes, council member Ding.

Uh my question is related exhibition the B and the page four. Uh this is a new an earthquake actuate the gas shut off of valves. Um uh my question is because this is a new and do you think it is possible for the city for the fire district and you know some residents volunteer want to change it or and we can provide convenience or financial support or we can change or make some and the compensation or something like that because in this way it's better for our local residents understand the new code and easily and to be compliant for the new code. So um as far as this specific provision, it is only going to be affecting any new nonresidential structures and as well as um those that are mo um have additions to them or have modified that gas line itself to provide you know at that time when that gas line goes in or gets modified that that's when that valve gets placed. I do not know the cost of that valve. Again, this is building official recommendation. Um, but I can find out a little bit more information for the second hearing.

Thank you. Appreciate it. And just so we're all clear, this is kind of presenting this tonight because it is complex for people to be able to look at it and have time to read it and understand it better. and then we will have the second hearing where normally it would come back on the consent calendar and we would do all of that discussion now. So just and and that also I think another good point is for people to rely as of December 23rd if you apply anybody applying it would go with the 2022 code and then after December 23rd 23rd or on the 24th or after

correct it would go into the 2025 building code. That's correct. So the 2025 building code takes effect January 1st. Yeah. and then our amendments take effect if adopted on December 3rd on January 3rd. So, yeah. All right. Okay. So, at this point, uh I'm going to we're done with our questions. Do we have any public comment on this [snorts] item? We've missed you. Where have you been?

Forgive me for my absence, I guess. Uh Tom Conlin. Um I live outside the city limits. I serve as you know on the uh city's climate action commission and but I'm here tonight speaking just off my own experience and um interest in this topic. Good questions uh from all of you of your staff tonight. Um and these are very timely things we're we're considering of wildfire and uh obviously climate issues uh both top of mind very much so here in California as is affordability. So, um, I had just a couple of observations and this is not the a formal public hearing and adoption time where this is an open conversation. So, I hope you'll take these comments and and think them through before your next um your next meeting. Uh, first of all, I think I noticed just a typo um on page six that the date should say the effective date is January 1st, 2026, which is what Jennifer just said, but it's it's miswritten in the document. Um, on the wildfire matter, I think I agree with um the discussion here today that nothing in here strikes me as being very um controversial or excessive. Um, but I did notice that there is a on page nine reference to uh fences made out of wood being up to 7 feet high and m fences of masonry 6 feet high which made me think we need to be thinking about fences in close proximity to buildings in that zone zero. And so I don't know how much our county trying to be compliant, you know, coordinated with the other jurisdictions is taking this matter

seriously, but um we know that fences are a key problem in fire um management. I'm going to if I may take another minute to summarize my comments. Yes, you may. Thank you.

I don't have a lot of comments. Um and then in section 42 where we start to talk about the energy efficiency uh tier one uh exemption. Just a little background on this. The city and the county have for many years now adopted Cal Green tier one but exempted all of the energy efficiency uh uh additional requirements of that tier which effectively guts them in terms of their greenhouse gas impact. the city has had in our B1 climate action strategy adopt an all electric reach code and that's something you've agreed to since I think January of last year and of course the state did in its wisdom decide that codes are costly and have an impact on affordability for for developers and cascading to home buyers and and and res rental uh occupiers. Um I remind you that there is a requirement in the energy efficiency code that all of those efficiency elements need to be proven to be cost effective and that's been already completed. Those studies are completed at the state level. Um, and so I submit to you that since the state has eliminated, my understanding is they've eliminated the ability to go to pass a formal reach code, we could adopt what we thought we were adopt, most politicians and county thought they were adopting when they adopted tier one that they would we could ask for those efficiency components to be brought back into the code for this update cycle. So I I ask your staff and and you all to chew on

this a little bit. I did just before uh there are 28 communities by my count under the current code that have gone beyond the minimum energy efficiency requirements. This list is from the energy commission. None of the ones in Sonoma County are on this list as by my reading. Okay. I I thank you. Thank you for your consideration, my comments. Yeah, it'd be great if you could uh send us the language that you are specifically interested in so that we can actually, you know, digest it. Thank you. Hello.

Hi everyone. My name is Julian Mackey. Um, I had the opportunity to moderate a conversation this week with uh the director of Turner Labs at UC Berkeley, with a uh UC Berkeley law professor, and with a former MTC commissioner and uh BART board member. And when asked to site a single thing that impacted housing affordability and our inability to scale green building methods, they all three cited city level building code. So, I didn't think I'd be talking about building code for a second time this week, but here we are. And so I just want to support this council's what I sense is um maybe skepticism or interest in streamlining some of the uh custom building code that we might adopt at the city level in the interest of supporting housing affordability developers who are building in our community um as well as those who might be using say innovative green uh building standards. Obviously, we all have an interest in maintaining the safety of the community, but as we add on these additional levels of requirements for our developers, we're making things more expensive. So, I just want to ask the council to keep that in mind as we go through this process. Thank you.

Thank you. It is a balance. It is a balance. Yes. All right. All right. Moving on. Do we have anybody else that would like to make a comment on this agenda item? All right, seeing none. So, at this point, I think what we need to do, and I think we've already done it. We need a reading of this, or do I need to I'm asking um our attorney u what we need to do at this point because we're not actually voting on anything. We just need to do a reading. Well, we're what we would request is that you move to introduce the ordinance by reading the title of the

and set the public hearing for December 3rd. For December 3rd. So, do we have someone that would like to do that or I can I can move, right? I can move. You can.

Good night. Thank you. Okay. So, um I um so I move uh that we um introduce uh for consider discussion, consideration, and possible action to introduce an ordinance repealing chapter 14.10 of the Snowman Municipal Code and reenacting a new chapter 14.10, 10 adopting new administrative preservations and adopting by reference parts 1 through 12 of the 2025 California Building Standards Code and local amendments and that we will have a um reschedule for a public hearing to be on uh December 3rd of 2025. Do I have a second?

All right. So, uh, public hearing. I would like to take a roll call vote for this, please. Thank you. Council member Lowe, I. Council member Gurnie, yes. Vice Mayor Willer, yes. Council member Dean, I mayor Ferrar Rivas, I. Thank you. The motion carries unanimously. All right. So, and then u moving on. I think that we're at item number 11. So, uh, I will adjourn this meeting. Here we are at 7. Let's do the right time. 18.